The Daisy Chain is a three-part book. Part one is the story of Daisy Petty McIntyre, a courageous mother of four children. Widowed in 1912 in her early 30s, she was forced by circumstances to leave her cozy home in the Ozark Hills of Northwestern Arkansas, where she was surrounded by family and friends to wrest out a living in a large city where she knew few people. She soon learned that the many skills that served her well in the Ozarks had little financial value in earning a living for herself and her children in Kansas City. Daisy faced hardships and destitution, but she did it with great heart and fortitude, never letting her children see the fears and desolation she felt on an almost daily basis. Part two is the author's experiences growing up in the Great Depression years. Part three is a family genealogy.

The Daisy Chain

By Muril Hart

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2009 Muril Hart
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4490-3681-2

Contents

Acknowledgements........................................................................xiPart 1 They Called Her Daisy............................................................1Prologue: Dazerine (rhymes with Jazz) they called her Daisy or Daz......................3Part Two Growing Up In The Great Depression.............................................89Introduction: A few words about changing times..........................................91Part Three The Ancestors................................................................177This Book Part 3: The Ancestors*........................................................179

Chapter One

They Called Her DAISY

Prologue: Dazerine (rhymes with Jazz) they called her Daisy or Daz.

Daisy McIntyre was rarely called by her full given name, Louisa Dazerine. Her friends called her Daisy or Daz, depending on who was speaking.

Daisy was my maternal grandmother, born March 17, 1880, a courageous widow, she raised her children under adverse conditions, sacrificing her own comfort and well being to the needs of her family and she did so with great heart. She died before I was born but through the stories of her second daughter, my mother, Lillian, Daisy lived more vibrantly for her grandchildren than the paternal grandmother who was alive but absent for the most part of our lives.

Daisy was a charismatic woman, but like most strong people, a complex personality, both highly moralistic and naughty at the same time. Loyalty to family was high on her priority list as well as commonly good manners. The term, "commonly", is used to describe down to earth courtesy, not the fine manners of high society.

Daisy's husband, Jay, died when she was 32, leaving her with four young children to raise, alone. As a young widowed mother, Daisy's life was one hardship after another but her children never saw the fears or the doubts she felt, because she put forth an air of assurance that the bad times would be dealt with, and everything would be all right.

The olden days

"I was born in 1905 in Arkansas on a farm called the old Ethican place," she began. It was my mother, Lillian McIntyre Knight speaking. She was about to tell my sister, Jean and me, a story about the "olden days." She wanted to share with us the life she had known as a child but more than that, she wanted us to know her mother, Dazerine Petty McIntyre and the family history.

Jean and I loved to hear the stories and we would sit quietly listening to her family tales even though we had heard them many times before.

"My mother said I was the ugliest baby she ever saw," Lillian continued. "She said I had long black hair that lay on my shoulders and I cried all the time for several days. She said no wonder that I cried so much with that face. My father was Elijah Jackson McIntyre but everyone called him Jay. He had wanted another boy to help with the work. He said girls just ain't much help with farm work. My brother, Ira, was nearly 3 years-old when I was born and my sister, Eva was almost 10. My brother Clell, the baby of our family, was born after me in January 1911" Lillian said.

"I didn't have much in common with Eva. She was a grown-up to me, more like a mother than a sister. She took care of Ira and me a lot when Mama was out working. Ira and I thought Eva could do no wrong. She was so good to us kids. She didn't hit me or even get cross with me, but she was sometimes a bossy kid. Ira teased her a lot and that caused trouble sometimes.

I remember when Papa sent away for some little cherry trees. Papa had just bought the Tillery place and we moved there. He put everything he had into it. He bought the two cherry trees and put them in the side yard. Money was always so scarce that it was a burden for him to buy the trees. They were growing real good and Papa was proud of his trees.

Mama had left us with Eva that day and Ira got one of his bad teasing spells. He was really aggravating Eva, and Eva finally got mad. She went out, and broke off one of the cherry trees and whipped Ira real good with it. When Papa got home and found out about his tree, he hit the ceiling. He was so mad, he cussed and reared and stomped. He even threatened to whip Eva but instead he just blew off and cussed more than anything. Mama wouldn't let him whip Eva. She just kept saying 'now Jay, now Jay' she would say, 'she's just a kid.' I can remember just standing there waiting for something to happen, he was terrible mad but he didn't hit Eva. Mama wouldn't have let him.

The Story Begins

It was a cold day early in 1912 and there was no heat in the house when the authorities showed up at the door of the two-room, tarpaper shack that was Daisy's new home in northeast Kansas City, Missouri.

This dreary house was far different from the modest but cozy home she had left in Arkansas after her husband Elijah Jackson "Jay" McIntyre died. Daisy, a young widow of only a few months, was at home alone with her children. Laid off from her job at the meat packing plant, living far away from family and friends in Arkansas, she was desperate with worry about where the family's next meal was coming from.

Work at the meat packing plant was grueling hard, meager pay, and deplorable working conditions. There were labor unions at that time but they were in their infancy and "sweatshop" labor prevailed. An employee might give his employer a good steady, seven days of work a week for months, but have one sick day off and be fired, no matter how well they worked or how dependably they performed in the past. Employers didn't worry about replacing an employee because times were hard and other workers waited in line to take the low-paying jobs.

As a grown woman, Daisy's daughter, Lillian, described to her children, events that occurred during that time.

"Mama was working in the meat packing house and Eva kept house and took care of us kids, and she also went out to look for a job," said Lillian.

"Ira and I always walked to the streetcar line to meet Mama when she got off work. I know now that Mama was sick herself that night ... that evening", she corrected herself.

"We went to meet her," Lillian said. "It was nearly dark and Mama hadn't come. We waited at the streetcar line quite a long time, long past the time she should have been there. So, we decided to look for her.

We walked up one street and down another. We went back home to see if we had missed her but she wasn't home so we went back to the carline. She wasn't there so we started looking everywhere but we kept coming back to where she should get off the streetcar.

We had decided to go back to the carline when we saw her. She was real sick. She didn't know where she was. But, when we found her she said, 'what in the world are you children doing out in the streets so late?'

She was hugging us, and half crying. I guess she was so sick and worn out she just had a lapse of memory, but I guess she felt like she had to keep going," said Lillian.

Eventually, the long hours and heavy work took its toll on Daisy and she lost her job. She managed to get work housecleaning here and there or temporary work of some sort but it was not enough and hunger became an everyday companion to the family.

Finding work that paid living wages was difficult enough for a man in 1912 and almost impossible for a woman. There were always more people looking for jobs than there were jobs available.

Not rising from her chair, Daisy glanced out the window as three strangers emerged from the car and slammed the doors. Were they coming to her house? She wasn't sure but something about them made Daisy uneasy. What did they want, she wondered.

A combination of circumstances had prompted Daisy to sell out and move from the Ozark hills to Kansas City after Jay died. It was Bob Scott, her stepfather, who suggested the plan. Daisy was wary of Scott's offer that he would provide a home and buy groceries if she would keep house, do the laundry and cook for Scott and his grown son, Alonzo. She had good reasons not to trust his offer. Her childhood history with Scott was not good.

After Scott and her mother, Amanda Petty, married, when Daisy was ten, Scott had been an uncaring bully to both Daisy and her sister, Sophronia. (Pronounced So- fron- yah.) Daisy had two younger brothers, Will, three and Isaac, two. Amanda married three times; first to James Huffman, second to Daisy's father, Caleb Petty and third to Scott. Both James Huffman and Caleb Petty died as young men. Scott was married prior to marrying Amanda and had at least one grown son, possibly more children, that didn't live with him. Amanda had two older sons and a daughter from her first marriage, and two daughters and two sons by Caleb. The Huffman sons were young men at the time Amanda married Scott. George, 21, and John, 16, were outspoken in their objections to the marriage. They believed Scott to be lazy and an opportunist. They swore never to speak to Amanda again if she married him.

Daisy's father, Caleb, was known among his family and neighbors to be "an exceptionally good man." Before he died in 1855, he homesteaded 160 acres in the Missouri Ozarks and built a good home for the family.

Unfortunately, Caleb died in his 30s from pneumonia. George and John Huffman had been good and honorable sons to their mother after their father died and showed great respect for Caleb Petty but they wanted none of Bob Scott. They predicted that Scott would not work and provide for the family properly and that he would squander the assets that Amanda and Caleb had built up over their years of marriage. Amanda ignored her older sons' warnings and married Scott anyway. True to their words, her sons disowned her. As it turned out, George and John were correct in their assessment of Scott. After Scott and Amanda married, he did not work and he sold off Caleb's land, piece by piece, not for the saving or investing of it, but he used it to live on and for whatever he wanted.

Never far from Daisy's memories of life with Scott was one particularly bitter event. A heavy snowstorm had blown in covering the Ozark country in huge drifts of snow and biting cold winds. Scott in his usual overbearing manner ordered Dazerine, 15, and Sophronia, 16, out into the storm to bring in the stock and to do other outdoor chores. Daisy was not worried about herself but Sophronia was at puberty, a frail girl who experienced difficult menstrual periods. For whatever reason, Scott chose to ignore the fact that the girl was having a difficult time. Amanda didn't want Sophronia to go out and voiced her objections but, swearing insults about spoiled girls and other nasty remarks, Scott ordered both girls out into the cold and told them not to come in until they were finished. Amanda's pleas fell on deaf ears and Scott had his way.

Daisy took on the heavier chores and tried to shield Sophronia from the hard work as much as she could, but she felt a growing alarm as she watched Sophronia trying to get the work done. Sophronia was weak and she was leaving a heavy trail of blood in the new fallen snow as she worked. By the time they finished the chores and got back to the house, Sophronia collapsed at the door. Daisy helped her sister into the house and then lost her temper. She told Bob Scott she hated him and then turning on Amanda, she told her mother she would never forgive her for letting that happen. Sophronia was never the same after that night. She suffered nervous spells and convulsions; she died about five years later.

Daisy remembered all these things but possibly, due to her husband's recent death, plus two other life-altering events in close sequence, she let her desire for a better life influence her decision. Jay's death was difficult, but the family might have managed to scrape by where they were. However, shortly after Jay died, Daisy's oldest daughter, Eva, became deathly ill with typhoid fever and at this point in her life was not yet well. She had in fact gone in to what the doctor called a decline, sitting around listlessly, not interested in anything and staring into space. Secondly, Dazerine learned that her home was about to be foreclosed. The decision to move away from her family and friends, plus the stress and grief of the past few months had exacted a heavy toll on her and overwhelmed her better judgment.

Facing fear

The noise of car doors slamming and the murmur of voices, coming from the street once again caught Daisy's attention. She rose from her chair to look more closely out the window as three strangers, two men and a woman, approached her porch and walked to her door. They were all well dressed, but total strangers to Daisy. Over the years, Daisy had developed a keen instinct for trouble and for some reason not clear to her; the sight of these three strangers caused a sense of dread to seep into her bones. These people, she decided, looked like government people in their dark clothes and grim faces and Daisy was cautious of government people.

Her four children sat near Daisy on this dreary morning. Only the baby, Clell, whimpered he was hungry, even though the other three felt the gnawing pangs of an empty stomach.

Though these strangers seemed like trouble, Daisy decided to reserve her opinion. She was a country woman. Experience had made her cautious in her judgments and careful in her decisions. She would not jump to conclusions, she decided. She would bide her time.

The children sensed Daisy's wariness and they too became anxious. As she walked to the door, they clustered close around her skirt, matching their steps to hers. Daisy hesitated at the door, reluctant to open it.

A loud second knock sounded, but before she cautiously opened the door, Dazerine stooped and in low tones said something to Ira. Ira said nothing but nodded and quickly moved to a position by the back of the door as Dazerine opened it. Behind the door, a loaded shotgun sat, butt side down, against the wall.

She opened the door only as wide as necessary to hear their intentions and said "good day" to the strangers politely enough but with guarded restraint.

The visitors showed her their credentials establishing their authority with the city, then wasted little time stating their mission.

"Mrs. McIntyre," the woman began, "we are with the city relief bureau. It has been brought to our attention that you and your children are in need of help. Mrs. McIntyre, we are prepared to find work for you." the woman said in a condescending manner and waited for Dazerine's reaction to her words. Dazerine was a proud woman and not brought up to accept charity, but at this time in their lives, she would have welcomed help of almost any kind for her children's sake. However, the next words out of the woman's mouth shattered any illusions that Daisy might have had of getting the kind of help she needed.

The woman drew herself up tall, and pursed her mouth downward. She arched her eyebrows, then, clasped her hands in front of her. "Mrs. McIntyre," the woman said with exaggerated precision, "We will take your children and put them in an orphan's home where they will be properly clothed and fed. When you are financially able to care for them, you may get them back."

The woman stopped again to gauge Dazerine's reaction.

For a moment, Daisy was stunned, not able to speak or to take in the hateful words she had just heard. She stood as though frozen. Take her children! It was unthinkable! Her children in an orphanage; no, her children had a mother! They would not be taken from her!

Daisy's children had never seen their mother so angry. Lillian liked to remember her mother at that time. She recalled that Daisy was a tall woman, about 5ft.7 and thin.

"She was taller than I am," said the 5ft.4 Lillian. "She walked like she had a rod up her back and her chin slightly tilted up."

"Posture," Daisy often said, "is akin to good character and self respect."

A deep cleft in her chin softened Daisy's overall austere look and her clearly playful side was normally reflected in pale, Irish blue eyes that would brighten and sparkle to give away a quick if sometimes questionable sense of humor. Her overall look gave Daisy an appearance of confidence but at this moment, she was feeling anything but confident and there was no sparkle in her eyes. Her eyes were like ice.

"No one is taking my children," she hissed at the authorities and stepped back to slam the door shut. One of the men had stuck his foot in the door, and the other two surged forward into the room. A white rage came over Daisy and she drew herself up to her full height, glaring, tight lipped at the social workers. A combination of anger and fear threatened her reasoning and she trembled visibly.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The Daisy Chainby Muril Hart Copyright © 2009 by Muril Hart. Excerpted by permission.
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